I recently had a fun time at the range with my recently acquired Savage Model 99 in .300 Savage. It is one from before 1959, but I don't know when. I didn't see a letter code near the lever, so I can't figure it out.

Anyway, it shot great! I loved that gun. It hit everything I wanted it to all the way out to 300 yards with no problems.

However, I was loading the rotary magazine to the 'full' capacity [5 rounds] and then loading 1 in the chamber for a total of 6 rounds. The Savage manual says this is an accepted way to use it, btw.

When I closed the lever to chamber the round, the rifle fired. It was pointed in a safe direction, but it startled me, to say the least.

I guess it is possible that I accidentally touched the trigger as I pulled the lever closed, but I don't know for sure.

So, for anyone with experience on the Savage Model 99: how likely is it to have a slam fire as the breech is closed?

I was a bit startled as it seems there isn't a firing pin spring that is designed to prevent the pin from overtravel forward. It is a striker-fired design with the striker spring only.

I was just thinking I may need to strip it to see if the sear/firing pin [striker] engagement are is too small.

The trigger pull to fire seems to be in the 2-3# range. My guess is about 2 1/4- 2 1/2 lbs. I don't know how 'normal' that is for the Model 99, but that could be a sign of minimal sear/firing pin engagement.

Do any of you have any experiences you could share to guide me? Thanks.